What is Whiz Kids? Only the best hacker media of the 1980s.

A group of high-school kids get themselves into, and out of, various high-tech related predicaments and solve complex mysteries with the aid of their trusty personal computers and the art of hacking, but this isn't the movies Hackers or WarGames though, this is an overlooked early 80s TV gem known as Whiz Kids.

Whiz Kids originally aired on the US network CBS, from October 5th, 1983 through to the series finale that aired on June 2nd in the summer of 1984.

The show only ran for 18 episodes, it was cancelled after only one season.

Whiz Kids was created by Philip DeGuere, who had also created the popular private detective series Simon & Simon for CBS in 1981, and Bob Shayne who had written for Simon & Simon as well as other classic detective shows like Remington Steele, "Murder, She Wrote" and Spenser: For Hire. Philip DeGuere also served as executive producer, Whiz Kids was produced by Universal Television.

In essence Whiz Kids was conceived of as an update of older works of fiction involving teens who solve mysteries like the Hardy Boys, which had been made into a successful TV series in the 70s, but for a new generation of kids who were growing up around, and making great use of, computer technology. The creators of Whiz Kids also wanted the show to be fairly technically accurate which makes it stand out in the field of 80s hacking related media.

Philip DeGuere stated in several 1983 interviews that he conceived of Whiz Kids after recognizing the importance of computers in his work as a television producer and believed this "new" technology could make an interesting premise for a series. The notion of teenage computer geniuses hacking into computers was often compared to, and thought by many to have been inspired by, the film WarGames, which had been released in May 1983 and became a hit during that summer. However, DeGuere has repeatedly stated that his idea for the show was originally conceived in 1981. If you think about the length of time it takes to write, cast and film a TV show it is really unlikely that Whiz Kids was copied as a concept from WarGames.

In 1983 it was estimated that there were 10 million computers in use in the US. Whiz Kids was created at a time when people could not help noticing the growing importance of computers and the increasing influence computing was having on all aspects of society. It makes sense, given events in the US around this time, that we will get to in a minute, that convergent creative processes took notice of cheaper, more accessible personal computers and the rapidly emerging phenomenon of teen hackers. A year before Whiz Kids came out the movie Tron had proven that kids were interested in complex plots that revolved around computers, Whiz Kids would test just how great that interest was.

The plot of the show revolves around Richie Adler (played by real life 80s videogame champion Matthew Laborteaux), a tenth-grader who lives with his mother, Irene (played by Madelyn Cain) and younger sister, Cheryl (played by Melanie Gaffin). Richie's mother and father are divorced and his father works overseas as a senior telecommunications engineer, his father salvages obsolete computers and computer parts and sends them to Richie. Richie used those parts to put together "Ralf", his bedroom sized computer that can do facial recognition, understand vocal commands and speaks with its own actually synthesised voice. RALF is an important character in its own right within the show and features heavily as people make demands on Richie for RALF's computing power, in some episodes RALF is seized by federal agents.

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